Building Efficiency in Design

The resilience of urban projects will ultimately be measured by how effectively they contribute to the overall resilience of the urban model. Westbank projects have a strong focus on sustainability without compromising architecture or design.

How sustainable is our shared energy consumption and waste production? What steps are we taking today to ensure their continuity in the face of an evermore urgent environmental imperative?

0 millionWe have over six million square feet of LEED Platinum projects under development.

While rating systems like LEED® do not give nearly enough credit for the most important characteristics of true sustainability, which are density and proximity to transit and services, the energy savings component of LEED have real merit. We are intent pushing the envelope by implementing innovative solutions that create substantially more pleasant, healthier environments while dramatically reducing energy consumption. Innovation may cost a little more in capital and take considerably more time, effort and creativity, but the results contribute to the resilience of our cities.

BOMA Best, Building Environmental Standards Shaw Tower was the first building in British Columbia to be awarded the Building Owners and Managers Association Best Level 4 Environmental Certification, an accomplishment shared with only five other Canadian buildings

4 Green Key Eco-Rating Shangri-la Vancouver is a ‘AAA’ Five Diamond and a BOMA Best, Building Environmental Standards, Level 4

5 Green Key Eco-Rating The Fairmont Pacific Rim exemplifies the highest standards of environmental and social responsibility throughout all areas of operations, setting the international standard for sustainable hotel operations.

LEED designated projects

Westbank is also one of the world’s leading LEED Platinum developers, including two of North America’s first LEED Platinum office buildings, TELUS Garden and TELUS Sky, as well as the targeted LEED Platinum residential high rise at Vancouver House, and the re-development of Oakridge Centre into a LEED Platinum neighbourhood. We want to ensure our buildings have the smallest environmental impact while also conserving precious natural resources. The goal of our practice is to improve the neighbourhoods we build in and create resilient structures and systems that are accountable to future generations.

LEED Platinum is the top standard for ensuring that people, planet, and profit are aligned to have the smallest environmental impact while also conserving precious natural resources.

Shangri-la Vancouver At 646 feet high, Shangri-la is Vancouver’s tallest structure.The project features full-height grids of luminescent panels on the corner façades are proprietary to this project. They are a composite comprised of a luminescent coating, chromatic ﬁlm and textured glass that absorb energy from daylight and surrounding light sources and then glow from that energy in the evening. The project achieved a LEED silver rating and incorporates energy conscious aspects and sustainable approaches which are integral to the building design concept.

TELUS Garden A targeted LEED Platinum designation for the office tower and Gold for the residential tower, TELUS Garden features solar panels, rainwater capture and an innovative district energy system that will allow reduction in CO2 emissions by over a million kg per year, making it the most efficient piece of real estate in Vancouver, if not Canada, today.

Vancouver House Designed and built to be one of the world’s first LEED Platinum-certified residential towers, Vancouver House uses the best of contemporary technology in its building systems and selection of construction materials.

TELUS SkyTELUS Sky will be Calgary’s first building built to LEED Platinum standards. A stormwater management system will recycle rainwater for washroom toilets and outdoor irrigation, reducing water use by millions of litres per year. A district energy system will salvage waste heat from TELUS’ data centre to heat the building and provide hot water. When complete, TELUS Sky will use approximately 35% less energy than similar size developments.

Community Energy

Community energy is an important tool for transforming our energy infrastructure and making cities more sustainable. It means lower risk and less maintenance for individual buildings, making the city’s energy infrastructure as a whole more reliable and resilient.

Creative Energy In 2014 we acquired Central Heat Distribution – a supplier of low-cost community energy to Vancouver’s downtown core for over 40 years. The vision for Creative Energy is to build on the existing downtown Vancouver plant to create a network of localized, low carbon community energy systems in Metro Vancouver. We are helping Creative Energy grow its customer base and enlarge its footprint, partnering them with a world-renowned architectural firm to design their new plant and head office.